One of the key changes brought about by the election of François Hollande as the new president of France is that it breaks up the alliance between current president Nicholas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel of Germany, who (along with Britain's David Cameron) have been leading the push to fight Europe's debt crisis with painful cuts to national budgets. (Merkel's party also took a big hit in local elections this weekend too.) As leaders of the two biggest eurozone economies, they controlled the control the purse-strings that led to bailouts of weaker nations like Greece — bailouts that came with a steep price of harsh cuts to cherished social services. All the while, the debt problems have only gotten worse.

As for Greece, voters there dealt a huge blow to the two major ruling parties that had spent months trying to negotiate those bailouts and sell them (rather unsuccessfully) to their people. The government is now so fractured that a neo-Nazi partymanaged to secure a sizeable foothold in the new parliament. With no one party having enough support to seize control and no obvious coalition available to take charge, it will be quite a challenge to even form a government this summer, let alone one can shepherd the nation through its financial woes.

Yes the difference between him and Nicolas Sarkozy in policy terms is marginal, but perception is everything. The Right has taken a hit this week, the Left is delighted. This will change the dynamic of European politics in far-reaching ways.

News reports are focusing on the Germanwings pilot's possible depression, following a familiar script in the wake of mass killings. But the evidence shows violence is extremely rare among the mentally ill.